My Punishment
by lilpurplebird
Summary: In a slightly different world, Shion has a more horrific end. First-person POV


What it says in the summary.

Not my best piece, but I'll make do with it. Besides, I wanted one of these up here anyway, so might as well introduce my attempt at horror. It's also my first with present tense, since I wanted to imitate the sound novels, and the manga a little bit.

I actually came up with it very early this morning when I was half-asleep. It was to be a page longer, but I didn't know what to do with it. So the ending is what you get.

Enjoy!

Higurashi When They Cry © Ryukishi07

* * *

It hurts to keep my eyes open to just stare up at the apartment complex. My head's throbbing like mad, and it's feeling very sticky. I attempt to lift my head up just for the pain to worsen doing so. I moan and force myself to turn over. My vision focuses down at the asphalt meters below much to my disappointment.

So I just barely manage to escape death after all. The thought makes me chuckle, but it hurts to do so, and even think about it. What were the odds I would land on a rooftop, let alone live through it? I had to have fallen a great deal, my room is pretty high up. There's a chance the back of my skull caved in on impact.

_I should have just fallen the entire height, _my thoughts slowly pull together. _It probably wouldn't have hurt as much._

As delusional as I am, I can't help imagining it. Had it been timed right, I, Shion Sonozaki, wouldn't be here thinking about it. I would've been freed from myself and the dangers that await me in my room. I know _she _is still there, waiting to reclaim me. It would have been better to just end it all the first time in the well. She is right, we sisters have to stay together, even in death.

I feel the nagging thought urge me to find the strength to roll off, since I'm so willing to die. My limbs twitch in response, but I'm too tired to move my weight around. If I did crack my head open, I know that if I lay here long enough, I'll bleed out to death. Might as well die a little more in peace than as a bloody, writhing mess.

I let out a sigh, gazing up at the full moon above. Reflecting off of its surface is the face of my beloved, smiling down at me. I know he longs to reach out and pat my head, to let me know everything's okay. Instead, it's the same wish as before.

"_Live, Shion,_" he whispers to me. "_Please live for me._"

It hurts... everything hurts. I can't think straight... I don't think I can even breathe.

"...s... sorry, Satoshi," I murmur with an unpleasant rasp. "I can't... if I do, everything will be after me. I have... no one else to hold on to."

I did horrible things, I realize that now. Nearly all of my friends are dead. In a sick turn of events, if I had gone ahead to kill Rena, I would most likely be in a worse spot than this, so that's supposedly a given. Which is worse, anyway? Dying with friends alive, or dying with friends dead? Would my sins carry over to the next life, or will my slate be clean? Either way, will my life be normal again? Will everyone love me again as before? Will I... do this again?

Something tells me "yes".

Everything I have done here will happen again. I will kill my friends, and die alone like this. And _she_ will never love me again at the end.

I just now notice the world had been fading to black this whole time, so I make sure the moon is the last thing I ever see. But I couldn't really choose what would be the last thing I ever hear even if I tried. It'd normally jerk me back to consciousness if I wasn't so far from it.

There is a footstep, and then someone at my side apologizes to me.

I went ahead to pretend the voice was apologizing for my birth. The darkness became more welcoming.

* * *

It's strangely bright. I don't like how it feels. Is this heaven by any chance? No, it can't be, I don't deserve heaven. I'm not innocent. Maybe Satoshi pleaded for me, and thus I'm forgiven? That has to be it, even if it is implausible.

Smiling widely, I blindly reach out for him. "Satoshi, you shouldn't have..."

With a breath, my eyes open, and the sense of security and hope immediately flee from my grasp. Above me, a sterile tile ceiling greets me to the glints of sunlight. I mouth a little bit while I regather my senses only to soon realize I have on an oxygen mask. I shakily remove it, and ignore how my lungs burn from the outside air. I weakly sit up to feel weight on my head pull me back. It took a good fight to support my back against the mattress. I pull absentmindedly at my gown before I look around my surroundings.

Someone had been here earlier. A vase of flowers and bag of candy on the stand are just in reach, and there's a vacant chair at the bedside. Despite the few living people I know of, I'm not sure who left it, as there is no written name or anything. Even then, I don't really care, since I don't deserve such treatment.

Feeling rebellious, and not wanting to remain in bed any longer, I hurriedly get to my feet. I ignore the wave of vertigo that hits me as I stumble over to the window. It has to be noontime if the sun's this bright. I wonder why it is I don't hear the cicadas very well, but I immediately let it go, as it's not that important to me right now. I shut the windowsill with difficulty, then head for the door. I shouldn't be up wandering about, since according to the sign I have a concussion, but at this point, I don't give a damn anymore. I'm already destined for Hell, might as well break more rules.

I'm a bit surprised the hallway is rather quiet, but I consider it a small blessing. I don't want to be caught on my way to the rooftop, so the map I barely glance at shows. I have no reason being here. I was to die, and yet for some reason someone had the gall to save me. Might as well try it again. Imagine the irony of a patient committing suicide at a hospital, even the newspaper will be stunned. The thought of it being the big headlines brings a smile to my face.

There suddenly came a scream of horror from the opposite end. I glance over to watch a couple of nurses run into a room and hear one of them make an order to "hold him down". I let morbid curiosity get the hang of me as I slip carefully down to the open room. A couple of hospital patients are peeking out of their rooms, making me feel better about wanting to know. I pause at the doorway, take a breath, and poke my head in.

Three nurses were fighting to hold down a thrashing boy who wouldn't stop screaming gibberish. The one closest to me moved a little bit, giving me full view of Keiichi's contorted, slobbering face, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. I couldn't help notice how he kept flailing his hands like he was trying to attack something. The women mentioned seizures, though one may have said "cardiac arrest", I couldn't exactly hear right.

Normally, I'd be freaking out here at the sight of a friend in danger, instead I'm surprised he had survived the knife wound I gave him. Well... if what the nurses are saying are true, then I guess he didn't survive _that_ long.

Poor Keiichi. I do feel a little bad for what I did.

Then I felt an eerie, familiar presence behind me. My eyes slowly widen as my breath catches in my throat. No... no, it can't be...

"**_Mio-o-on... I thought we sisters were to be together. Forever._**"

Oh, God... please no...

"**_Look at me, Mion._**"

No, no, no, I won't. I won't! I won't look at anything past your broken nails! Leave me alone, Shion, I-I was just heading up there!

"**_Mion Sonozaki, look at me!_**"

"Shion, I'll be with you soon, I-I promise!"

I'm then forcibly spun around to face my worst fear. I had nearly forgotten about it, but it really is for the best that I do. It would make my death go a lot smoother without something awful being the last thing I'd see. Had I actually died last night, it would have been peaceful, with Satoshi in my infinite dream. Hell's punishment would've been tame compared to this punishment.

This is not my twin sister.

My twin sister would never haunt me, wondering when I would die and join her.

This _thing_ is not Shion. Never has, never will be, now that I have a better look at her.

She stares at me side-ways with wide, bloody eyes from beneath her ratty bangs, while her snapped neck weakly flops about every time her weight shifts. Her dirty robe has many holes that were ripped into it from when she had crawled out of the well. Dripping from her mouth is an endless river of her own blood, and it sprays when she speaks in that scratchy voice. "**_I came to fetch you, Mion. You and I are to never separate._**"

A broken arm rose above her head to reveal a crimson-coated hammer in her grip. With the other, she places a long, rusted nail to my forehead. "**_Show your distinction, Mion!_**"

She heavily swings it down.

My wish comes true anyway.


End file.
